40 Years of the Humanities at Ohio State: Views of the Deans

Please join us for a panel discussion on the state of the humanities at Ohio State with G. Michael Riley, David O. Frantz, Michael J. Hogan, and Jacqueline Jones Royster, all former humanities deans at Ohio State.

Current Dean of Arts and Humanities Mark Shanda will give introductory remarks and the discussion will be moderated by Humanities Institute Associate Fred Andrle. A reception sponsored by the Office of the President follows the panel.

G. Micheal Riley spent his early career at various universities, including New Mexico, Colorado State and Marquette, as an assistant and associate professor. In 1972, Riley joined the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in both scholarly and administrative roles as an associate professor and Director of the Center for Latin America, and later as the Acting Chairman for the Department of Linguistics. He began working at The Ohio State University in 1983 as the Dean of the College of Humanities, a position he held for ten years, and as a Professor in the Department of History, specializing in Mexico and Latin America. He is currently a Professor Emeritus of History.

David O. Frantz joined Ohio State’s faculty as an assistant professor in 1968 and currently holds the position of Professor Emeritus of English. In addition, Frantz has also held or currently holds various administrative positions at the University, first as a Vice Chair in the Department of English, and later as the Associate and then Acting Dean of the College of Humanities. Since 2002, Frantz has acted as Secretary of OSU’s Board of Trustees.

Michael J. Hogan, the 18th president of the University of Illinois, has had a four-decade career in public higher education. He has served as president of the University of Connecticut and Provost of the University of Iowa (where he had earned his graduate degrees), and he has held senior administrative positions at Ohio State, where he was Dean of the College of Humanities and executive dean of the Colleges of the Arts and Sciences, and as a faculty member at Miami University, the University of Stony Brook, and the University of Texas. A noted historian, he is the author or editor of nine books and numerous scholarly articles and essays.

Jacqueline Jones Royster holds the Ivan Allen Jr. Chair in and is Dean of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts and Technology, and Professor of Literature, Communication, and Culture at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Prior to going to Georgia Tech, she taught and served in various administrative roles at Spelman College and at Ohio State. She has authored or edited a number of volumes in the areas of the rhetorical histories of women of African descent, the development of literacy, and contexts and processes related to the teaching of writing.